Dafri, Rahim reteaming for gangster pic

Rolling off the critical and kudos success of Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri is reteaming with his “Prophet” star Tahar Rahim for a Tokyo-set thriller about the French gang of Aubervilliers.

Based on true events, the story centers on five thugs from Aubervilliers embroiled in a faceoff with the Yakuza mob after stealing and dealing paintings from French masters.

Rahim, who earned multiple kudos nominations for his perf in “A Prophet,” will play Nordine Tifra, the group’s leader.

Pic is produced by Paris-based company LGM’s Malek Oudjail, Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste Dupont. Gallic mini-major Gaumont is co-producing and will handle domestic distribution. Oudjail said LGM was also in talks with TF1 to co-produce.

Beyond classic gangster fare, Dafri said the film is also a story about friendship in the vein of Claude Sautet’s “Vincent, Paul et Les Autres.”

Dafri has also boarded Gerard Depardieu starrer “L’Aviseur,” a thriller based on French undercover agent Marc Fievet’s book “Dans la peau d’un narco: Infiltré au coeur de la mafia.” Fievet spent more than a decade in prison after working as an informant for the French border patrol. His work led to the dismantling of key drug rings.

Produced by Onyx Films’ Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam, the film will lense near the Gibraltar border.

Dafri is also writing “Wash Days,” an English-language thriller about a Mexican drug cartel. Produced by “A Prophet” co-producer Marco Cherqui of Chic Films, that film will shoot in Los Angeles and Mexico.